An estimated 35 million Americans are at least 20% overweight (Biotechnology 13:1060–1063 (1995)), a level at which health risks are significantly elevated. Nearly twice this number of Americans believe themselves to be overweight. A comparable picture is reported elsewhere. For example, in the United Kingdom, approximately one third of the women and 43% of the men are overweight, with at least one in six women and one in eight men classifiable as medically obese (Purnell, S., Highfield, The Daily Telegraph, Sep. 30, 1995). There, therefore, are both aesthetic and health reasons for weight control.
In the medically obese population, the condition is more severe and often associated with a myriad of serious medical problems such as non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus, hypertension, dyslipidemia, coronary heart disease and musculoskeletal disorders. Thus, obesity is not just a problem of passive increase in adipose mass. It has been suggested that the underlying metabolic alterations in obesity may be amenable to therapeutic intervention (Goldstein, D. J., et al., Am. J. Clin. Nutr., 60:647–657 (1994)).